Singapore doesn’t have a free press, according to organizations
such as Freedom House. But The Straits Times newspaper published by Singapore
Press Holdings has one of the most advanced news websites in the world,
according to teachers at Ball State University’s College of Communication, Information and
Media (CCIM), one of the biggest media colleges in the US.
Stressing the need for “digital convergence” or multimedia news
websites which update round the clock, they say:
Media companies in Southeast Asia and Scandinavia have
embraced digital convergence most widely as of mid-2005. In Southeast Asia the
leaders include Star Publications in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital; the
Nation group in Thailand; the Singapore Press Holdings Group, which publishes
the prestigious Straits Times newspaper; and the Ming Pao Group in Hong Kong.
I am quoting from the book, Convergent Journalism: An
Introduction, edited by Stephen Quinn and Vincent F Filak. Filak teaches at Ball State in Muncie,
Indiana, where Quinn also taught in the past.
The BBC, the Guardian and the Financial Times are among the
European leaders in digital convergence, they add, along with the Aftenbladet
newspaper in Sweden and the Aftenposten in Norway. Interestingly both
Aftenbladet and Aftenposten are published by the same Scandinavian media
company, Schibsted, with which Singapore Press Holdings will be developing a
new local search engine. It will give information exclusively on Singapore.
American pioneers in digital convergence include the
Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune and several Florida
newspapers, according to the book.
But is it possible to
compare news sites from around the world? Click on the links and see.
I check the BBC and the Guardian every day, the Washington
Post often, see the RSS feeds from the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune occasionally
and visit the Straits Times a couple of times a week. Necessity compelled me to stop subscribing to
the newspaper, which has a circulation of 388,500. Now for Singapore news I
depend on Channel NewsAsia, a Singapore news channel with a free website.
The Straits Times online like the New York Times includes “premium” content, available
only to subscribers.
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